Shopping Canadian? Head downtown

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For shoppers looking to buy Canadian products locally as the U.S. continues to threaten Canada with tariffs, a good place to start is in downtown Uxbridge.

In an unscientific sampling of local downtown retailers, the Cosmos found a wide range of Canadian and non-American goods available to those who want to fight back against the tariffs.

At the Bridge Social on Brock St. W., for example, 90 per cent of the goods on sale are Canadian products, including quite a few locally produced goods. Co-owner Rebecca Harman pointed out that Sarafino, which produces olive oil sold in the store, is a local company that grows its own olives on a farm in Italy. She noted she has a few products from places such as Australia, but no American-produced goods.

Harman said the cups used for coffee and tea are made in Canada and, being made of bamboo, both the cups and the lids are totally compostable.

"We have sold mainly Canadian-made products since we opened," she said.

Over at Keith's Flowers, also on Brock St. W., Julien Kelland said the majority of the flowers sold in the store come from Ontario, although the store's roses come from Ecuador.

"We want to support local," Kelland said, noting that in the summer much of the store's stock is grown on local farms.

The same held true at the Passionate Cook. The store claims it is "hyper local" when it comes to honey and maple syrup. The store also carries a wide range of cheeses which includes some American-made cheeses, but the store offers cheeses "from around the world." Much of the store's cookware comes from Europe.

The Passionate Cook said customers are regularly declining to purchase U.S. products.

At Wood's clothing store, Kathy Bridgeman said the only American products in the store are a small selection of women's underwear and a couple of other items. Most of the clothing is Canadian made, although some of the fashions come from Europe.

Brian Evans at Brian J. Evans Financial Services said the tariffs really don't affect his business. He said he is not hearing much from clients who want to divert their investments from American-based funds.

"I've never been specifically into U.S. funds," he said.

However, Evans took an optimistic attitude towards the tariffs.

"It could be good for Canada," he said. "It's going to make us stand on our own feet as Canadians."

Not everyone was willing to talk about the tariffs. At Koch-Glitsch Industries on Dallas Street, when asked if the tariffs might affect the company, including the workforce, a manager responded: "We're not going to comment." Koch-Glitsch is part of Koch, Inc., an American multinational conglomerate corporation. Koch-Glitsch makes products for the petrochemical, refining, and gas processing industries, among others.

The same held true at Castool, located in the industrial park just west of Uxbridge. They prefered not to comment on how the tooling and equipment supplier would be affected by the tariffs.

And at least one downtown retailer wouldn't talk about the tariffs. The store owner said commenting could have an adverse effect on her business because anyone who disagreed with her point of view could punish her by not shopping at her store.

But almost all the retailers contacted agreed that customers are actively rejecting American-made goods.

A recent CBC report (cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/grocery-store-labels-maple-leaf-canadian-1.7477488) warns shoppers to beware of "maple washing," where products are being tagged with maple leaves and terms such as "made in Canada from imported and domestic ingredients," "manufactured by/for," and "imported by."

Shoppers should be aware that "product of Canada" and "made in Canada" have significantly different meanings. Something labelled "product of Canada" means at least 98 per cent of a good’s total direct costs of production or manufacturing were incurred in Canada. "Made in Canada" is a lower bar, meaning a significant amount of production occurred in Canada.